Your Health, by Dr Tom Smith

As Chlamydia has been linked with Crohn's disease (which causes bowel ulcers) that has caused concern. Yet, put into perspective, this should not stop anyone drinking milk. The risk that any pasteurised milk that we actually drink contains living chlamydia is vanishingly small, and the risk that it will do any harm is even smaller.

And if you are really that concerned, drink sterilised milk instead. I'm more concerned by another piece of news - about so-called junk food. British doctors Glenn Gibson and George Macfarlane have linked gut diseases like ulcerative colitis and perhaps even bowel cancer with high sulphur levels in food.

Germs in the gut convert that sulphur into sulphides - poisons that can damage the bowel lining, leaving it open to a risk of ulcers and cancerous changes.

There's nothing wrong with the level of sulphur in an ordinary varied diet, but the preservatives in many fast foods and drinks contain sulphur. And that is likely to increase our risks of bowel disease, especially if it runs in the family. So the fast food industry may have to rethink the amount and the type of preservatives they use.

Of course, there are other causes of bowel cancer apart from contact with food preservatives. It's extremely unusual to develop the disease in your early thirties, as disgraced financial trader Nick Leeson has. That may have something to do with his prison diet - or with the constant and extreme stress he has had for the last three years.

It is well known that cancers can start within a year or two of what the psychiatrists call a "life event", like losing one's job, being divorced, and going to prison for the first time. Nick Leeson has had all three: it's not surprising his health broke down. Keeping him in prison will surely lessen his chances of survival.

He won't have a chance to sample the latest treatment promoted for cancer - a herbal pepper sauce. It's also claimed to help infections, diabetes, food poisoning, painful periods, indigestion, breathing problems, colds, sickness, fever and pain. Cure-all claims like these belong to the last century: they are unprovable and frankly ridiculous. But there is evidence that good food can help you to better health.

Some years ago, it was shown that people recovered better and faster in hospitals where the food was good than those in hospitals where the food was uneatable and meals sometimes did not even reach the patients. Now most hospitals have nutrition departments that put a high priority on mealtimes as being part of the get-well strategy for everyone. If the food in your hospital is rubbish, or if it has become cold stodge by the time it reaches you, then complain.

If you miss a meal because you are having tests, then complain. Because the kitchen is as important a part of your healing process as the pharmacy. Good food means a wide variety of foods. That's obvious in places where there is still dire poverty, and the staple diet is rice and a few vegetables.

A World Health Organisation study showed that poor children in Bangladesh, India, Brazil and China all improved in their health if they were given a small amount (5mg) of zinc a day. They grew better, had fewer infections (such as enteritis and pneumonia) and had much better all-round health. We get most of our zinc from meat, and people who completely avoid animal-based foods, such as vegans, may be short of zinc.

That's fine for them: they make their own choice. But when they make their children vegans, too, that's another matter. If they insist on doing so, then the least they can do for their children is to discuss their nutrition with their doctor, who may feel that vitamin and mineral supplements (especially zinc) are needed. That's always second best, though, to the children eating properly - and that means high protein foods like meat, fish, and/or dairy products.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.